


Blush Meter

by Quarantinevibes



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blushing, Caring Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Confident Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Angst, Flirting, Fluff, Insecure Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Light Angst, M/M, Prinxiety - Freeform, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24664000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quarantinevibes/pseuds/Quarantinevibes
Summary: Virgil stumbles upon an interesting fact: give him even a tiny compliment and Roman turns into a blushing mess. But will Virgil use this knowledge for his own entertainment?Absolutely he will.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Comments: 76
Kudos: 588





	Blush Meter

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at a oneshot and boy was it HARD, but I hope you all enjoy!

It started as a misunderstanding.

It was early, early morning. The sky had just begun to catch the light of the sun and the moon was starting to go back into hiding. Virgil was in his natural habitat: in front of the coffee maker, wondering how much longer he should wait before giving up and snorting the bean grounds. He was giving it serious thought before the machine beeped and started dispensing the coffee (in liquid form).

Virgil grabbed his mug and let it fill to the top. He closed his eyes and let the smell of coffee waft around him.

“Make an extra?”

Virgil jumped and turned at the sudden voice. He blinked, wondering whether his coffee-deprived brain was making him see things. He took a sip, but the side in front of him did not go away.

Roman, the token late-sleeper of the group along, was standing in front of him. He only wore a pair of red sleep shorts and a white tank. His hair was mused, sticking up in all directions. He blinked sleepily at Virgil who couldn’t hold back a snort at the rare sight of such an unguarded Roman.

“Morning, beautiful,” Virgil said with a smirk. The comment was meant to come off as sarcastic, as the classic joking banter that he enjoyed with the prince.

But, probably because of the early morning, Roman didn’t seem to process the sarcasm. His eyes went from their slow, sleepy blinks to shot wide. A wild blush filled his face as he squeaked.

“Wh-what?” Roman asked.

The pure shock that colored Roman’s voice caught Virgil completely off guard and he could feel himself getting self conscious. He pulled an extra mug from the cabinet and filled it with coffee. He waved in Roman’s direction.

“Uh, joking?” Virgil said, “what’s the matter, Princey? You’re usually never up this early.”

Roman took the mug, some of the haze leaving his eyes.

“Oh. Uh, couldn’t sleep I guess,” Roman said and walked back to his room.

And that should have been the end of it. Virgil finished his coffee, went back to his room, and tried to get some reading done. He turned his audiobook up several times, but each time the thought of Roman’s blush drowned out the sound in his headphones. Virgil plucked them out of his ears and flung them onto his bed.

Why had Roman blushed so easily at the compliment? Surely the egotistical side wouldn’t be caught off guard with one? Roman must’ve called himself beautiful at least ten times a day!

This would require further investigation.

-

“Padre, please, just put a _little_ more butter into the potatoes?” Roman pleaded at dinner. Patton almost complied, but Logan held him back.

“Roman. You know as well as I that adding an unnecessary amount of fat into our diet will only hold repercussions for us later on.”

“But-!” Roman started and Patton sighed.

“I know how you feel kiddo, but Logan’s right.”

Roman pouted and Virgil tapped his chin, seeing the opportunity to test out his latest theory.

“Just because you’re cute doesn’t mean you’re going to get your way,” Virgil said with a laugh and watched for Roman’s reaction.

“I-“ Roman started and stopped himself, eyebrows shooting up as Virgil’s words registered. Virgil watched in almost wonder as the blush from the morning returned with a vengeance and left the prince sputtering. Virgil felt a small thrill go through him.

That’s it? That’s all it took to get Roman to blush? A tiny compliment and suddenly his face was ablaze?

The four of them helped Patton finish cooking and ate their dinner. Virgil didn’t attempt to compliment Roman again, but when he got back to his room he grinned widely to himself.

This. Was going to be fun.

-

It was the day after Virgil had made his discovery. They had been at this video for the past 20 minutes, but hadn’t gotten anywhere and Virgil was _exhausted_.

“Thomas is not going to that party!” Virgil yelled.

“But what if he _meets_ someone?” Roman asked, his voice pitched with frustration.

“Meet someone who’s trying to kill him?” Virgil fired back. 

“No one will try and kill him!”

“That’s what everyone thinks before they get murdered!”

“ You’re being dramatic, even for me!”

“Thomas’s friend bailed on him, he won’t know anyone there!”

“He can do this thing called _socialize_ Tom Shook!”

“Oh would you can it, pretty boy?!” Virgil yelled.

To his delighted surprise, Roman did, in fact, ‘can it’. He opened his mouth, but no words fell out of it. Roman continued to gape, face red from something other than frustration, until Logan broke the silence.

“Thomas, if you truly want to go to the party, perhaps invite a different friend so that the encounter is more comfortable,” he said and the conversation changed pace. The others discussed which friend to pick, how to stay safe, and eventually came to a conclusion.

Virgil, however, was just getting started.

-

It had been a week since Virgil had discovered Roman’s weakness and he was not stopping anytime soon.

“Cutie”

“Pretty”

“Gorgeous”

Each compliment left Roman in a deep blush, sputtering like a fish out of water. And Virgil was maybe a little obsessed with the sight. At first, it took a bit of thinking to make a compliment for Roman, but now it was becoming easy. _So_ easy. Every time Virgil looked, he saw something else that he could admire about Roman.

When Roman was singing: “I want to make your voice my ringtone.”

When Roman twirled around the common room: “I could watch those legs for _days.”_

When Roman was helping with cooking: “you can stop using the knife, your jaw line is sharp enough to chop those veggies.”

And Virgil thought that, eventually, Roman would have to get used to it. But no. Each and every time Roman went red as a beet. He’d hold his face in his hands and make strange, high pitched, squeaky noises.

“Virgil, _why?”_ Roman asked once and Virgil shrugged.

“Because you’re cute,” he replied, sending Roman into another blushing panic. And it was, as always, a gratifying sight, but Virgil frowned for a moment. The words had rolled so easily off his tongue and he realized, a bit shocked, that he had meant every word.

-

“I don’t know why you insist on not wearing a lab coat,” Logan grumbled. Virgil drummed his fingers on the desk and looked at the scene in front of him.

Logan has asked them for help on an experiment. He stood in front of his fume hood and Roman waved away his concern.

“Well I don’t want to look like a nerd. Now what do you need, specs?”

Logan sighed and pointed to a bottle on his bench. Virgil squinted at the label: Silver Nitrate. Roman grabbed the bottle from the cap.

“No Roman-!” Logan started, but it was too late. The whole bottle spilled on Roman’s shirt.

Virgil shot up, “Shit, Roman! Are you ok?”

Logan sighed.

“Don’t worry, the chemical itself is harmless. But unless you want your skin to stain, you should take off your shirt. “

Roman grumbled, but complied and when Roman swept his shirt over his shoulders, Virgil barely even had a second to think before the words flew out of his mouth.

“Fucking stunning.”

Roman had begun folding his shirt and stopped halfway, letting the fabric fall softly to the ground. The blush was back, covering his entire face and neck with such intensity that, had Logan not said the contrary, Virgil would have thought it was a chemical reaction. Roman stuttered, tried to cover his face with the shirt, remembered that it was covered in chemicals, and fled the room. Logan frowned at the floor.

“My silver nitrate.”

-

The incidents continued to pile up and it was turning into Virgil’s new favorite hobby. Roman was running through his head so much that it was making it difficult to sleep. Well, more difficult than usual.

Virgil groaned as he woke up. He stretched and sighed. Virgil glanced at the time.

4:30 AM

Well. That was nothing new.

Virgil scratched his shoulder and picked himself up to go to the kitchen. He was exhausted, but knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to bed. The thought left him in a bad mood, Virgil needed sleep and maybe tea was the way to do it.

Virgil shuffled into the kitchen, surprised to see someone already in the living room. Virgil felt the corners of his mouth tug into a smile. Maybe his mood was about to change.

“Hey Princey,” Virgil called casually and Roman startled up from where he was rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, greetings Virgil,” he said. Virgil raised an eyebrow at the prince and he sighed, “I-uh, It would seem that my beauty sleep is eluding me today,” he said by way of explanation. Virgil chuckled.

“Not that you need it,” he said.

Roman squeaked, the classic blush spreading across his face. He hid his face in his hands and turned away.

“What’s the matter not-sleeping beauty?” Virgil asked, smirk turning into a grin.

“Virgil,” Roman said quietly, but Virgil pressed on.

“Did your dreams become tired of you outshining them?”

“Virgil, stop.”

“But you-“

“VIRGIL.”

Virgil stopped, something in Roman’s voice shook him out of his cocky mood.

“Roman?” Virgil called softly and put a hand on Roman’s shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw tear tracks on the others cheek. Virgil took in a sharp breath.

“Roman? Fuck. Roman, I’m so sorry. I, fuck, I didn’t know I was making you so uncomfortable seriously I’ll stop, I swear,” Virgil said and Roman sniffed loudly. He lifted his head.

“Please. I- I can’t take the fake compliments anymore. It hurts,” Roman croaked out.

Virgil frowned.

“Fake compliments?” He asked and Roman nodded.

“I-I know you only do it to get a rise out of me and I know it’s funny but,” Roman swallowed hard and wiped at his eyes. Virgil blinked a few times before putting both hands on Roman’s shoulders.

“Roman?” He called softly. When Roman looked away Virgil sighed, “Roman, please look at me,” he said. Roman did and Virgil had to hold himself back from going on about how pretty Roman’s eyes looked when they glittered with unshed tears.

“Roman, you’re right. At first... it was just because I found you’re blushing to be very entertaining but,” Virgil gulped, “but the compliments were never fake.”

Roman’s eyes widened slightly and fuck Virgil was in it now wasn’t he?

“You _are_ gorgeous, Roman. And amazing and wonderful and,” Virgil let out a small laugh, “fucking stunning. Ok? I won’t do the compliments anymore if you’re uncomfortable, but please believe me when I say I meant every. Fucking. One.”

Roman’s lips were still parted in surprise and they looked so soft and warm and suddenly they were much closer and they were on his lips. Virgil made a noise of surprise, but closed his eyes and let the kiss rewire his brain. Roman laced his arms around Virgil’s waist and pulled him onto his lap while Virgil’s hands reached up to cup Roman’s face. When they pulled apart, both of them had a blush on their faces.

“You really meant all those things?” Roman asked quietly and Virgil nodded. Roman smiled.

“Even when you’re so beautiful yourself?” He asked and Virgil tilted his head for a moment before going bright red. Roman laughed.

“What’s the matter, gorgeous? Can dish it out but can’t take it?”

Virgil’s face was covered now and he buried his face in Roman’s chest.

“C'mon, don’t hide that pretty face,” Roman said.

“Uncle, uncle I give!” Virgil wailed in mock agony.

The next morning, Logan and Patton found the two of them on the couch. Small smiles and faint blushes still on their faces.


End file.
